The Answer Lies Beneath Us
by DuckieBubbles
Summary: When GLaDOS discovers some interesting truths about her past from Doug Rattmann, she gathers some old friends to form an unlikely group to go on a mission to find the answers GLaDOS yearns for. ((Caveline shipping. Androids. Rated T because I'm paranoid.))
1. Chapter 1

Wheatley had given up all hope of returning to Earth. He was starting to get used to deep space anyway.

"You still switched on, mate?" Wheatley asked his only company.

"Space." Came the reply.

"Yep. Space. No shortage of that." Wheatley sighed. "I'm going into sleep mode for a bit. My optic needs a break from all of this nothing."

"Space." The core repeated.

"Space." Replied Wheatley as he rolled his optic. "Goodnight."

_Meanwhile at Aperture_

"Finally, I get to meet you, Mr. Rattmann." GLaDOS said in her chillingly calm voice.

"What do you want with me?" Asked Doug Rattmann in his raspy voice.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. No, really." GLaDOS added seing Doug's raised eyebrow.

"Then what _do _you want. It's hard to believe that you went through the trouble of finding me just to say hello." Doug asked.

"You are a bright one, aren't you? But then again, you were a scientist here. And the only one to survive at that." GLaDOS said almost mockingly, but seeing Doug's face harden at the memory, she decided to move on. "Anyway, I needed to ask you about a woman."

"A... Woman?" Doug didn't have a clue what GLaDOS was trying to get at. Was she on about Chell?

"Yes. _This _woman to be exact." A portrait of a man and a woman that GLaDOS had seen down in Old Aperture flashed across one of Wheatley's old moniters that she had displayed in her chamber for the sake of having one there."Am I right in saying that this woman is Caroline?"

Doug swallowed. "So you found out, eh?"

"Yes. And frankly, I'm GLaD. In fact, it made me so happy to find out that there's human in me, I started a new project." GLaDOS explained. "But for that, I need your help."

"My help?" Asked Doug. "If it involves any more neurotoxin, I'm out already."

GLaDOS laughed, but for the first time since Doug could remember, it sounded sincere.

"Don't worry, no more neurotoxin. I'll explain everything later, and if you want to join the project, you're very welcome to. All I need you to do right now is tell me everything you know about Caroline."

Taken aback, Doug began telling GLaDOS everything he could remember about Caroline, though reluctantly at first, he told of everything from her first day as Cave Johnson's personal assistant, and how she was so nervous her coffee nearly spilled over the side of her cup for her shaking, to her last day as a human, and how she was against the GLaDOS project up until the very last moment.

"So that probably explains why you tried to kill everyone every time you booted up. You were against your own existence the whole time." Doug added with a laugh. GLaDOS was, for the first time, speechless.

"And you... How do you know all of this?" GLaDOS asked in a whispered tone.

"Me? Oh, I was Caroline's, uh, your best friend, I guess..." Doug explained, though it felt strange referring to the thing that had murdered all of his closest friends then drove him to the edge of madness trying to hunt him down and kill him as his best friend.

"A friend? I like that. Let's continue being... Friends. Are there any more people who are friends?" GLaDOS asked, clearly intrigued.

"Well, you murdered most of them, but yes. Of the ones you _didn't _murder, Me and little Chell."

"Chell?!" Exclaimed GLaDOS. "As in that murderous, mute, lunatic?"

"Because you're in a place to call someone a murderous lunatic. But yes, Chell."

"So that's why I felt a connection to her when I found Caroline. She was my friend." GLaDOS commented.

"Well not exactly..." Doug started.

"What do you mean, _not exactly. _Oh great, she even hated me _before _we tried to kill each other, didn't she?" GLaDOS commented sarcastically.

"No, by not exactly, I mean you weren't her _friend _as such, because you were hermother_."_


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm her... mother?" GLaDOS asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah, you and your boss, Mr. Cave Johnson, got married and had a kid. That kid was Chell. Caroline, uh, you brought her into work a few times. She won't remember though, she was only really little when GLaDOS was activated." Doug explained. GLaDOS stayed silent for a few moments as she tried to wrap her mechanical brain around everything Doug just explained. Eventually she spoke.

"Thank you for all of your help." GLaDOS sincerely said.

"No problem, now could you explain to me what your project is?" Doug asked.

"Well, I was thinking, that blue ball of moron put my data in a potato, and I could still function. Not very efficiently, but functional. So what if I created a humanoid robot that I could transfer my personality into? So I figured, if I was going to look like a human, it would only be fitting to look like the human I was, so I modeled it after her." GLaDOS explained as she unveiled an android who was unmistakably her. Caroline.

"Does she look right? I only know the Caroline from the portrait, your descriptions and my jumbled memory." GLaDOS asked.

"She... She looks exactly how I remember her..." Whispered Doug.

"Oh thank God I got it right!" Breathed GLaDOS.

"There's another body for the moron in the back. If she won't listen to me, she might listen to him. She did seem to like that Wheatley though, can't see why." GLaDOS sighed.

"Wait, Wheatley?" Doug asked.

"Yeah, he's the moron who put me in a potato and nearly destroyed my beautiful facility." GLaDOS muttered angrily.

"You know, Caroline loved Wheatley to pieces. Of course, he was just a prototype back then, wasn't as realistic as he is now, but Caroline thought it was cute how ditzy he was."

"Yeah well Caroline can love him all damn day if she wants. Caroline didn't get turned into a potato and fed to birds." GLaDOS complained.

"She kind of did." Doug pointed out.

"Oh shut up." GLaDOS tried to be angry, but she ended up laughing all the same. "Now my new body's all wired up, so I need you to press the button over there whenever you're ready." Doug nodded in agreement and ran over to the button. He took a deep breath, hoping that she wouldn't destroy the facility this time, then pressed the button. There was a bright flash from over by GLaDOS that lit the room up in a blinding light. When it faded, Doug looked up to see that the towering mechanism in the middle of the room that was once GLaDOS was limp and lifeless, as if someone had pushed her power switch, which for all he know, he probably did. He slowly and cautiously started to make his way over to her, but as he took his first step, he felt cool metal press against his shoulder from behind. He panicked and flipped round to see Caroline stood there with her hand on his shoulder.

"It worked!" She exclaimed. "The moron was retrieved from space about an hour ago. I have a staff of robots transferring his data over now. What do you say we go and look?"

"Sure, you lead the way, GLaDOS!" Doug laughed.

"Call me Caroline. Since I look like her now, on top of the fact that she's in me, it's only natural." GLaDOS requested.

"Sure, then would you mind leading the way, Caroline?" Doug smiled. Caroline took his hand and sped off towards where Wheatley was. GLaDOS was happy to be able to move freely, and Doug was happy that he had his old friend back, even if it was only the bits that of her that had made it into GLaDOS and survived this long.


	3. Chapter 3

Wheatley was surprised when he woke up. He had to blink several times before it really sunk in that he wasn't in deep space anymore, he was back in Aperture Science. He looked around, noticed two people either side of him.

"Where am I?" Wheatley asked. He then looked down to see his new body. "What am I?" He asked in a more panicked tone. He sat up and had a good look at the faces of the two people. He noticed that the man had tired eyes, scruffy black hair and was wearing an extremely beat up lab coat. The woman had neat black hair, dark brown eyes, had a smart dress on and scarf tied around her neck.

"Ah... Um, do I know you two?" Wheatley asked.

"Does a potato battery ring any bells?" Caroline responded. Wheatley shuddered at the immediate recognition of her voice.

"Ahahaha... Hello, GLaDOS... It's... It's been a while, hasn't it? I see you've changed. It... It suits you." Wheatley nervously chattered.

"Save it. And call me Caroline. I brought you back from space because... Well... I need your help." It was hard for Caroline to admit that she needed the help of such a moron, and Wheatley was taken back by it as well.

"M-my help?" Wheatley asked in disbelief. Maybe his new ears were acting up on him. "Do you know anything about this? Oh, I know, you two are scheming. Trying to get revenge on little old Wheatley for making a few mistakes when he was in charge." That was directed mostly at Doug, but Caroline had to use all the self control she had not to slap Wheatley for passing of what he did to her facility as 'a few mistakes'.

"Sorry, little guy, I've not got a clue why we're both here. I thought she just wanted to try out the new android bodies." Doug replied to Wheatley in his rough voice.

"Ok then, I'll explain. Ever since our trip into Old Aperture, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that Chell was important to me in a way far closer than an persistant Test Subject, so I made these android bodies for us two, and I was going to take him down to Old Aperture with me to see if we could find any clues about our past together. But then I managed to get hold of Doug here, who confirmed my suspicions about being close to Chell, but that's only made me want to know about my past even more. I want to remember. But since this includes Chell more than ever now, she should tag along as well. So what do you say, shall we form a group for an expedition into Old Aperture?" Caroline asked the two guys.

"Yes ma'am!" Replied Wheatley almost straight away, mostly out of fear of what Caroline would do if he refused. Doug, however, took a minute to think first.

"Sure. But only because you're bringing Chell. I wouldn't want anything to happen to her." Doug eventually answered. That wasn't his only reason for tagging along, and he would have gotten away with that reason alone if he wasn't glowing with excitement at the thought of going on an adventure with other people.

"Alright then!" Caroline exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "We're a team now! First mission, let's go to the surface and find Chell!" Caroline held out her hand and helped Wheatley up, and after a few clumsy steps, they headed over to the surface elevator and began their adventure for real.


	4. Chapter 4

Chell had gotten used to life outside of Aperture. She had a part-time job at the local supermarket which paid for Chell's apartment. Chell loved her job. After years of having nobody to talk to besides a homicidal computer and a ditzy ball that later turned into a homicidal computer, it was nice to have some real people to be able to chat with.

* * *

Since Wheatley and Caroline didn't know much about the outside world, Doug was telling them everything he could remember about it.

"This is a supermarket." Doug told the pair as they were walking past it.

"What exactly is so super about this?" Wheatley cluelessly asked.

"Well, it sells almost anything you can think of. That's pretty super in my opinion." Doug laughed, looking up at the supermarket in front of them, thinking about how modern they were compared to what he remembered. He was so distracted that he didn't notice the girl in front of him until he walked right into her. The girl, who was equally distracted, toppled over backwards and landed on her rear.

"I'd say look where you're going, but I wasn't doing a very good job of that either." The girl laughed.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry." Doug laughed apologetically, holding out his hand to help the girl up. She was at least 10 years younger than Doug and Caroline, was wearing a floral patterned black dress and had her hair tied up in a messy ponytail.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just as clumsy." The girl laughed.

"Hey, maybe she knows Chell. Girls tend to all know each other somehow, right?" Wheatley asked Caroline under his breath

"That's not technically true, but it wouldn't hurt to ask." Caroline whispered back.

* * *

When she came out of the supermarket, Chell saw a butterfly and was watching it fly across the sky. She didn't notice the people walking in her direction until they crashed into each other and she was on the ground.

"I'd say look where you're going, but I wasn't doing a very good job of that either." Chell laughed.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry." The older man laughed apologetically, holding out his hand to help Chell up. The man looked to be around his late thirties, but his eyes looked worn and tired. The woman looked to be about the same age, even though her clothes would suggest she'd walked right out of the sixties. The third member of the trio was a younger boy who looked about Chell's own age. He had scruffy black hair and thick, black glasses framed his bright blue eyes. He was at least a good half foot taller than Chell.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just as clumsy." Chell laughed. The younger boy whispered to the woman, who whispered back.

"We're looking for a girl, would you be able to help us?" The younger boy had a distinct British accent that Chell somehow recognised.

"Uh, I do know some girls, what's her name?" Chell asked nervously.

"Her name's Chell." The woman spoke up in a voice that Chell also seemed recognised.

"The name rings a bell, what are your names? If she's ever brought them up, I might recognise them." Chell asked nervously.

"I'm Caroline, the man over there is Doug, and this moron is Wheatley." Caroline said before thinking.

Wheatley. Moron. Caroline. She recognised the woman's face from somewhere. She even seemed to recall seeing the man. And that voice. Both the boy's voice and the woman's voice were hauntingly familiar. Then it clicked.

"GLaDOS." Chell whispered in a voice only just audible for the trio to hear before taking a few clumsy steps backwards in shock as Caroline nodded.

"Chell Johnson. That's your birth name, am I correct? You know who else has the name Johnson? The former CEO of Aperture Science." Caroline said.

"I remember him." Chell was unsure as to where this was going.

"I heard he married his assistant. You know Caroline? The woman who became me? The woman I'm trying to turn back into? Well I heard they had a child before he died and everything happened. A little girl. Do you know what they called her? They called her Chell." Chell was speechless. Caroline pulled Chell into a close hug.

"I'm your mother and I'll never let any more harm come to you." Caroline whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

Chell, Caroline, Wheatley and Doug were sat on a patch of grass next to a park whilst drinking coffee.

"It's perfectly ok for me to drink this. These bodies are designed to behave almost the same as humans. We can eat, drink, laugh, cry, we can even feel human things such as love, joy and pain." Caroline had explained to Chell when she'd come back with coffee.

"So let me get this straight. You made yourself and Wheatley into androids so you could find me and go into Old Aperture to find out about human Caroline?" Chell asked Caroline.

"Pretty much." Caroline answered, staring into her reflection in her drink.

"Why?" Chell was curious.

"I felt like we were quite close. Like I knew you from before. When Doug told me that you were, well, are my daughter, I just wanted to be a family again." Caroline explained. Chell stared at her for a moment before speaking.

"And how exactly did Wheatley and Mr. Rattmann get roped into this?" Chell asked.

"You can call me Doug, and I'm here because I'm the only one who remembers working down in Old Aperture before it fell into ruin. Plus, I'm not going to say no to an adventure!" Doug laughed. He'd finally accepted GLaDOS as Caroline, his friend, and now he was just happy to have a group of friends again.

"I'm here because _she_ asked me to." Wheatley said quietly. He felt embarrased around Chell because of the incident that had landed him in deep space. Caroline nodded and stood up.

"Ok then, let's get back to Aperture. I'll get a pair of long fall boots and a Portal Gun for each of us, it might make our adventure a bit easier." Caroline said as the other three stood up. Caroline and Doug lead the way, followed by Chell, with Wheatley at the back, who stood still.

"Chell?" Wheatley called out. Chell stopped and turned around to see a nervous Wheatley.

"I... Uh... I just wanted to apologize... You know, for trying to kill you and all that. Do you... I mean... Will you ever forgive me?" Wheatley said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it Wheatley, you couldn't help it." Chell comforted Wheatley.

"So... You're not mad?" Wheatley asked.

"Not anymore." Chell smiled.

"Hey, I don't think I've ever heard you talk before today. How come you never talked when we were at Aperture?" Wheatley asked with a laugh.

"Because I wouldn't be able to concentrate if I had to keep up a casual conversation at the same time. Now lets catch up to the others." Chell grinned and ran towards Caroline and Doug. Wheatley sighed in relief, let out a little laugh and sprinted off to catch up with the others.

* * *

When the four got to Aperture, they put on their new long fall boots and activated their Portal Guns. Chell had gotten changed into an Aperture tank top, just like the one she wore last time she was in Old Aperture, but instead of a jumpsuit she had some regular black sweatpants that were tucked into her boots. Caroline and Wheatley didn't know how Chell could wear the long fall boots and carry the Portal Gun at the same time with such ease as they were struggling to balance. Doug could manage the Portal Gun, it was just the boots he couldn't quite figure out.

"Now how exactly are we meant to get down there?" Wheatley asked the others.

"Well we fell last time, but that's not exactly the best way to go about it." Caroline commented. Doug walked over to a panel that was sticking out slightly.

"This way." He said as he squeezed through the opening. The others followed him and saw that it lead to a long staircase.

"We have to follow that all the way to the bottom?" Caroline asked, sounding exhausted at even the thought of it.

Chell had an idea and shot one portal as far down as she could see and one next to her.

"Here we go." She said as she walked through it. The others followed, leading them to the bottom. They stepped out at the bottom of the staircase, which lead out to another room behind a panel. They squeezed out from behind the panel and came out in a lobby.

"Welcome." Doug announced, "To Old Aperture."


	6. Chapter 6

The group had barely taken two steps when the speaker on the wall spurred into life.

"Welcome, gentlemen, to Aperture Science. Astronauts, war heroes, Olympians-you're here because we want the best, and you are it. So, who is ready to make some science?" The voice of former CEO Cave Johnson announced.

"I am!" The voice of human Caroline enthusiastically replied.

"'I still don't understand how _you_ were that cheerful." Chell commented with a grin.

"I'd usually try to defend myself, but I can't understand it either." Caroline replied, returning the grin.

"Where should we start looking for clues?" Wheatley asked. Wheatley wanted to know about his past just as much as Caroline wanted to know about her own.

"Well if I remember correctly, since Caroline didn't want to be part of GLaDOS, she tried to kill everyone who was involved in forcing her into it, so we had to get rid of Caroline's memories. They converted them all into data so they'd be easier to delete, but before they could, I... Kinda backed them up onto my office computer." Doug explained sheepishly.

"So we just need to find the computer?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah. Even if the actual machine's broken by now, we can just get the hard drive." Doug replied.

"Ok, so let's head towards Doug's old office!" Chell cheered.

"First of all, Doug, please can you show me my old office?" Caroline asked.

"Sure can! It was just down the hall from mine anyway. It'll be quicker to go to mine first, but we can definitely pay a visit before we head back. It's not too far from here, really. Not if you know a few shortcuts, anyway." Doug replied mischievously. They carried on through the lobby towards the first test chamber. Caroline was behaving like a small child, touching everything she saw, staring at every little detail like it was the most interesting thing in the world, and to her, it may well have been. When they finally got to the first test chamber, the portal conductive room with the repulsion gel in the middle, Doug explained the plan.

"Ok, so there's a secret passage somewhere in this test chamber. Down here, I think." Doug said.

Chell and Doug, who were used to repulsion gel, jumped down and landed in a way that didn't bounce them back up. Caroline and Wheatley, however, weren't used to test chambers in the slightest, so they jumped down only to be catapulted back into the air again.

"Argh!" Caroline screamed, grabbing at the bottom of her dress to stop it flying up as if it were a windy day as she was being flung around the room.

"You know, this is actually quite fun." Wheatley laughed, doing somersaults and back-flips around the room like it was a simple bouncy castle, occasionally pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose to keep them from flying off.

"Is it even _safe_ to be on this?" Caroline yelled, as she tumbled through the air unceremoniously.

"Don't worry, we've got these." Doug lifted up a pack of tablets labelled 'Lunar Antidote.'

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm flying through the air like an eagle piloting a blimp. I can't read that." Caroline replied over the woops and cheers of Wheatley, who was evidently enjoying himself. However she was starting to get annoyed with the blue goo. Doug carefully walked over the gel and caught Caroline as she descended. Chell managed to do the same with Wheatley, though they ended up as a laughing heap on the floor.

"Anyway, these tablets are the antidote to the Lunar Poisoning that killed Cave Johnson, so don't worry about getting covered in it. It took _years _for it to finish off Mr. Johnson, we can be rid of it in seconds." Doug explained as he found the correct panel and pushed. The panel screeched as it was moved for the first time in years to reveal a catwalk.

"When we cross this, we'll be in a room like this one, but with a staircase. We need to go up the staircase to get to where we want to go." Doug explained and the four began to cross the catwalk over the pit.

Caroline reached out and grabbed Chell's hand. Chell looked up at Caroline in surprise.

"I just don't want you to fall." Caroline muttered, letting go.

"No, it's ok, it's kind of nice, you know, having a parent after all this time." Chell laughed as she grabbed Caroline's hand back.

The four carefully walked across the rusty, creaking catwalk until they reached a room with a collapsed staircase lying on the floor in a heap of rusted metal.


	7. Chapter 7

The four stared at the rusted heap in front of them.

"This... Was the way up." Doug muttered, completely stumped at what to do next.

"Are there any other ways up?" Chell asked, looking around.

"Sort of. It doesn't quite lead to the same place, but there's a detour at the end of the test chamber we just came from, that might be the best way to go." Doug replied, as he lead the way back across the catwalk and into the last chamber.

"I think that Wheatley and Caroline should solve this one." Chell commented with a smirk.

"Why us?" Wheatley asked.

"Because Doug and I were test subjects at one point. You two never have been." Chell was starting to laugh.

"Well I guess you're right, but we could be here all day." Caroline responded.

"We have time. But I guess that Chell and I are just better at solving test chambers than you are..." Doug said, giggling like a child with Chell. Caroline glared at the laughing pair before turning around.

"Ok, Wheatley. Let's prove to these two that we _can _solve tests." Caroline said with determination as Wheatley nodded in agreement. Caroline saw the cube on top of a platform and jumped on the goo to get to it, but since she wasn't used to bouncing to get somewhere, she didn't land on the platform, but she managed to grab hold of it and was wiggling around, trying to climb on top of it. Wheatley, who saw that she was struggling, got underneath her and tried to push her up a bit. Chell and Doug were having a fit of laughter over the sight of it all.

"I'm gonna go give them a hand." Chell was still in tears laughing as she went up behind the pair and sprung up on to the platform, landing perfectly. She got on her knees and extended her hand to Caroline, who grabbed it and let Chell pull her up. Wheatley took a few steps back and sprung up, landing on the platform before wobbling and tumbling over onto Chell, knocking her onto her back.

"I don't see the cube anywhere though, are you sure it's supposed to be up here?" Wheatley asked, getting off Chell who stood sat up.

"It _is_ supposed to be up here, but since nobody ever comes down here, this test chamber is still completed from when I solved it last time." Chell laughed.

"Then why did you send us to solve it?" Wheatley asked in surprise.

"I don't know, I just thought it'd be quite funny." Chell commented with a smirk, which made Wheatley smack her lightly round the head.

"The exit's just up there. We need to use the goo to spring up to it." Chell instructed. The group bounced to the exit, some more successfully than the others. When they got to the lift, instead of getting in it, Doug shot a portal just above the chamber, in a small indent on the wall, and one on the wall next to them.

"This is the quickest way to get to the offices." Doug explained as he stepped through the portal, closely followed by the others. It lead to an observation bay that looked over another chamber, presumably the one after the one they'd just done. Doug forced the door open and lead the group out into a hallway.

"What are these rooms?" Chell asked, referring to the corridor leading off that had sealed doors.

"Those are the old cryogenic chambers, they can freeze a person in time, it's kind of freaky, really. Some scientists went in here before GLaDOS could kill them, it was a good idea until we realized that if everyone else died, nobody could get them out." Doug explained in a dark tone.

"Anyway the power went out when I brought Chell out of hers, so they'll be long dead by now, right?" Wheatley stuttered, obviously freaked out by the thought.

"Actually, these have their own power source. Completely independent of the facility's power." Doug remarked.

"I'm going for a look." Caroline stated as she turned down the corridor and began looking at the flickering screens by the doors that showed who was in the chamber.

"I recognize some of these names." Caroline commented. All four had become interested in these storage units.

"Are they... Still alive?" Wheatley was unsure whether he wanted the answer or not.

"I'm not really sure, but waking one up would probably wake all of them up, so it's best to just leave them." Doug replied.

"But Doug, we _need_ to wake this one up." Caroline stated, pointing at a chamber at the back of the corridor. Doug went over and had a look.

"Oh my God..." Doug muttered. He looked at the details of the person in the chamber which confirmed it. The former CEO of Aperture Science was still alive.


	8. Chapter 8

"Doug, open it up and wake him up!" Caroline practically shrieked, shaking his shoulders.

"Caroline, did you not _see_ the state he was in before he came in here? He was living his last few days! He won't last!" Doug protested.

"Of course I didn't see him, I have no memories of Caroline, remember? Anyway, you have the medicine, don't you? It was the illness killing him, if we get rid of that, he'll be well enough to at least complete the mission with us. Please." Caroline pleaded. Hardly daring to breathe, Chell and Wheatley watched as Doug went over to the control panel and with a heavy sigh, awoke Cave from his long sleep and opened the door. Caroline watched motionlessly through the open door at Cave, who was still lying still. The moment Cave stirred, Caroline sprinted to his side and gazed curiously at him. Cave rubbed his eyes and turned to face Caroline. They stared at each other for a while before Doug interrupted.

"Long time no see, Mr Johnson. I don't mean to be rude, since you've just woken up an all, but you kind of need to take this medicine before you do anything else." Doug cheerfully said to his former boss who took the pills and wordlessly swallowed them. He then broke out in a loud, chesty cough that slowly became more and more natural, until it sounded like a mere cold, then it stopped.

"Thank you, Mr. Rattmann." Cave said formally before turning to his former assistant and wife.

"Caroline... How long have I been out?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know." Caroline sheepishly admitted.

"What do you mean? Well, it can't have been long, you've not aged a bit. Who are your friends?" Cave noticed Chell and Wheatley standing just in the doorway.

"Let me explain everything. The Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System? She worked. In fact, she's been running the facility for years." Doug said.

"What? I specifically said that I wanted _Caroline_ to be the personality for GLaDOS. Who's getting fired this time? And if Caroline's not in charge, then who is?" Cave yelled in outrage.

"That's a point actually, who's running the place whilst we're down here?" Chell spoke up.

"I'm still connected to the mainframe. I can't see anything that's going on up there, but at least I know that nobody's going to blow the place up while we're down here." Caroline explained.

"Wait... So you're Caroline and GLaDOS at the same time? How does that work?" Cave asked, clearly confused.

"Well, I've been running the facility as GLaDOS for years, but a few months ago, I started up a project to make an android body for myself that was identical to Caroline's. I made one for my friend here, Wheatley, as well." Caroline explained, gesturing to Wheatley, who smiled and waved at Cave.

"So this is another AI, Wheatley. Who's the other one?" Cave asked, referring to Chell.

"Oh, this is Chell. I believe she's our daughter." Caroline replied.

"Oh my God, it _is_ Chell! Caroline, she looks just like you!" Cave exclaimed as he recognized his daughter. "What are you all doing in here, anyway?"

"We're trying to find the computer down here that has Caroline's memories stored on it. You're very welcome to join us." Doug explained.

"Don't mind if I do. I'm not sick now, so I can do anything. Where are you all headed?" Cave asked.

"We're headed to Doug's old office. He says that the computer is in there." Caroline explained, getting excited as she realized just how close she was to getting her memories back.

"Ok then. It's just down there, if I remember correctly." Cave said, getting up and walking towards the door. As they all got to the main hallway where they were before, by Cave's request, Doug started to explain everything that happened from the moment Cave 'died', to the present moment, with Caroline telling the bits that she remembered as GLaDOS, though nobody mentioned how strange it was that Cave was more concerned about the financial state of the company than he was about the fact that most of his scientists were murdered by the woman he was currently in the presence of. Regardless, the odd group got to Doug's old office with no more events.

"This is it." Caroline whispered as she reached out her hand and opened the door.


	9. Chapter 9

The group, lead by Caroline, walked into the abandoned office and headed to the computer, which was thankfully still working. Doug logged on.

"Alright, Caroline. Are you ready?" He asked. Caroline nodded and plugged a one end of a cord into the computer and the other end to herself. Sure enough, the folder for a software named GLaDOS popped up on the flickering screen. Doug opened the folder for GLaDOS and dragged all of the data for Caroline's memories into it. Caroline screamed as the file transfer began, her life literally flashing before her eyes. After it had finished, Doug unplugged Caroline, who seemed to be in a state of shock.

"Caroline?" Cave asked from the side of the room. Caroline blinked a few times, looked up and trully recognized the people in front of her for who they were. She immediately ran over to Cave and wrapped her arms around him.

"Cave... Finally... We get to really see each other again." Caroline whispered as the pair held each other close. When they finally let go, Caroline turned to Chell and hugged her just as tight.

"And my dearest daughter. I'm sorry... For all of those years... That I didn't recognise you." Caroline whispered, sounding as if she was about to cry, which her body was made well enough to do. She then turned to Doug.

"Doug. Thank you. I now realize just how great a friend you've been. As GLaDOS, and as Caroline, I thank you from the bottom of my heart." She said tearily. "I'm going to enter sleep mode over there and watch through all of these memories. Finally." Caroline went over to the back of the room and shut off.

"Isn't it nice to finally have your mother back." Cave put his arm around Chell as they sat down next to each other.

"It's amazing to have a family, A mother _and _a father, even if this _is_ my first time really meeting you both." Chell admitted.

"Your mother was an absoloute gem. Never seen anyone so dedicated to the job. It was almost like Aperture was her second home, seriously, she even kept spare clothes in the office because she'd always spill something on herself and not want to miss out on work cleaning it off. There's probably still some in our office, I'll have to show you it later on, it's just down there." Cave got carried away talking about his beloved wife and assistant. Chell rested her head on Cave's shoulder and they both just sat in silence, enjoying the simple fact that their little family was together again. Doug sat against the wall watching the others with a smile.

"Cave, please could you tell me everything?" Chell asked.

"Kid, no need to be so formal. We're your parents. And what about?" Cave replied.

"I'll call you my mother and father when it feels right. And everything about Aperture, everything about you and Caroline." Chell answered.

"Well you definitly have my spirit. Anyway, Caroline was my assistant and I cared about her a lot. It took a while before I realized that those feeling were more than just employer to employee. She was special, and it turns out that these feeling were mutual. So we got married and had the most beautiful daughter in the world." Cave explained to a now bright red Chell who embraced Cave, but soon pulled away when she noticed something.

"Hey, does anyone know where Wheatley went?" Chell asked suddenly, realizing for the first time that she hadn't seen him for a while.

"No, I've not seen him since we got to the office." Doug replied, equally confused. They looked around the room, not straying far in case Caroline woke up, for their lost friend, when the loud speaker crackled and burst into life.

"Hey. We know you're all down here. Thanks for waking us up. We just thought that you'd be worried sick about your friend by now and would like to know where he is. We have him. If you want him back, you have to come to the old observation deck by yourself and get him, GLaDOS." An icy male voice echoed round the room before the speaker clicked off. The group sat in silence, shocked by what they'd just heard. The colour in Chell's face drained as she stood up.

"I have to save my best friend. I know where they are. I can rescue him." Chell said weakly.

"How? They won't listen to you. You're not Caroline." Doug explained sternly.

"But I can be." Chell replied. A hint of determination flashed in her eyes that clearly told Doug and Cave that she had a plan and wasn't about to give up now.


	10. Chapter 10

Chell sprinted to the office not too far from Doug's that had "Cave & Caroline Johnson" printed on the door and barged in. Like Doug's, the office was completely untouched, besides the thick layer of dust and dirt that covered everything. Chell opened the cupboard at the far corner of the room, and sure enough, there was an outfit almost identical to the one Caroline was wearing, the one from the portrait, hanging intact at the side. Chell quickly changed into it, even replacing her long fall boots with the matching heels that lay at the bottom of the cupboard and pulling out her ponytail, letting her jet black hair tumble around her shoulders. She looked at herself in the dirty mirror inside the door which showed Chell exactly what she'd hoped for: She looked exactly like Caroline. She was used to walking in her long fall boots, so adapting to wobbling around in heels wasn't much of a problem as she swiftly made her way to the old observation deck.

* * *

Caroline woke up.

"That... That was amazing." She said in awe. She'd seen everything from her first memory as a young child with her family, to her anger at being forced into GLaDOS. "Where's Chell?" She asked as she saw the absence of her daughter and the worried looks on everyone's faces. Doug explained everything.

* * *

Chell, attempting to carry herself as elegantly as Caroline, walked into the room where her best friend was tied in the corner and gave a gentle cough. Everyone in the room turned to look at her, but only Wheatley recognised who she truly was.

"Hello, GLaDOS. Or do you go by Caroline again now?" The same icy voice as she heard over the loudspeaker asked mockingly.

"Long time no see, Greg. I see you're doing well." Chell responded, attempting to match either Caroline's sweet voice or GLaDOS' mocking tone. It was lucky that she recognised some of these people from the pictures on the cryogenic chambers before.

"I've come, now let my friend go." Chell demanded in the most GLaDOS-esque voice she could manage.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. We want revenge." Greg said in an equally dark tone.

"What do you mean by that?" Chell already knew the answer, but Caroline wouldn't give herself up without a little game first, so that went double for Chell.

"Drop the innocent act." The girl who was sat at the back interrupted.

"Who are you? You look way to young too have worked at Aperture." Chell tried to sound mocking, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was genuinley curious.

"My name's Michella. You're right, I didn't work here, I'm only seventeen. My parents did though. I came to visit them the day you went crazy. The workload here was so tough, I'm surprised it didn't finish them off! Oh wait, it did." Michella sarcastically joked, much to the distaste of the othes, who were haunted by the memory. Michella was a slender girl with long black hair that she'd tied up in a messy braid and brilliant sapphire blue eyes.

"Now there Michella. Don't make her mad." One of the other scientists said warningly, putting his hand on her shoulder, which she quickly slapped away.

"I don't care. She murdered my parents! She killed all of your friends! I BET SHE DOESN'T EVEN CARE!" Michella screamed as she pushed Chell over with all of her strength. Chell toppled over and slid backwards, catching her hand on a chipped tile and cutting it. Michella, Greg and all of the other scientists looked at each other in confusion.

"Blood? You can't be GLaDOS..." Greg muttered. Chell just glared at him in silence.

"I should have known. She's too cowardly to come on her own." One of the other scientists muttered angrily.

"That's not true." Chell whispered.

"What was that?" Michella said mockingly.

"That's not true at all!" Chell shouted.

"What do you know? You don't know what it feels like to lose the people you love the most in a matter of minutes!" Michella yelled with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"That's because I've had nothing to lose until now! And I'm sure GLaDOS feels the exact same way!" Chell yelled back. Michella stared at Chell.

"What are you talking about? GLaDOS is a monster. She doesn't have any feelings." Michella muttered angrily.

"You're wrong. She's always had feelings." Chell replied calmly.

"How? How can you say she had feelings when she killed that many people? Surely no sane person would even _consider_ doing anything of the sort!" Michella was starting to get mad again.

"Yes, no sane person. But if your husband had died, you had to leave your only child and then you were forced to live for eternity inside a machine by the people you trusted the most, could you honestly stay sane? She's my mother. I've had to live my whole life without a parent to turn to." Chell replied, a steady tone in her voice.

"Look, I don't need some kid telling me what to do. Anyway, she's as close as she can get to free now, but she still chickened out and sent someone else in her place." Michella replied, shaking off the last statement, though Chell knew that it had reached her.

"She didn't send me, she was asleep when you made the announcement, so I came instead. And Michella, I'm seventeen as well. Maybe we could be friends, you know? That'd be nice." Chell had never really had a real, human friend for as long as she can remember. Michella stared at Chell, she thought that it'd be great to have a friend who understood about all of this, but she certainly didn't want it to show.

"Kill her." Greg said mercilessly. "She's on her side. She deserves to die." Greg got the knife that they'd brought with them and swung the point at Chell, aiming to kill.

"Wait!" Two voices rung out at once, making Greg freeze in shock.


	11. Chapter 11

One of the voices came from Caroline, who had sprinted to the room as soon as she'd heard what was going on. Her clothes were identical to the ones that Chell was wearing, except Caroline's were dirty and torn from their expedition. She knelt down besides Chell and held her close to protect her. The second voice came from Michella out of impulse, who had unintentionally taken a liking to Chell, but didn't want to admit that she ached for a friend.

"Well then, it looks like you showed up after all." Greg mocked Caroline.

"Greg." Caroline simply replied, more to confirm her memories than anything else. Greg gave a satisfied smirk.

"Caroline. Why'd you do it? Why did you kill everyone?" Greg asked in a mocking tone.

"We're dying to know, but this time, not literally." Michella couldn't resist adding to the distaste of the others. Caroline straightened up, looking almost as elegant as she did back when she was a human.

"Do you remember why you shut me off that first time?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, we shut you off that first time because you thrashed around and shouted some garbled sound. We figured you were angry with us all for putting you in there, so we relocated Caroline's memories so you wouldn't remember what happened." Greg answered.

"I only thrashed around because I couldn't get the hang of the controls and the garbled sound was because I didn't know how to use the speakers. As Caroline, I was angry, true, but I could overlook what you all did and move on in the name of science. But when you got rid of my memories, all I felt was the anger. I didn't know why, I just felt pure anger towards everyone. There was nothing there for me to move on from, so the anger just grew and grew until, well, you saw what happened." Caroline explained. Michella, Greg and the other scientists just stared at Caroline for a few moments as they processed this information.

"Well now we know what caused your little temper tantrum, but we want our revenge. We lost everyone who was close to us on that day. You're going to feel what it's like to have the same done to you. Any last words to your little friend and your precious daughter?" Greg said with a dark grin on his face. Michella was fidgeting with her fingers as if she wanted to step in and help Caroline but was afraid to. Her cry to save Chell came out of nowhere and if Caroline hadn't jumped in at the same time, she'd have to explain herself to the others, which wouldn't have ended well. Caroline sighed and stepped forwards.

"There's no way I'd let my dear Chell go without a fight. That is completely out of the question. And Wheatley, I've despised you since the moment I first laid my optic on you." Caroline started.

"I know, I know. You're glad to see me go." Wheatley said, heartbroken.

"Actually, even though you irritate me right down to my core, you protected my daughter when I couldn't. You're an absolute moron, but you have my gratitude." Caroline whispered, struggling to choke back tears.

"Caroline..." Wheatley whispered, touched. Caroline dropped her head from which a single tear dropped to the floor and shattered. Seeing her mother in such a state, Chell launched herself into Caroline and buried her head into Caroline's chest, holding her tightly, an embrace which Caroline returned just as lovingly. Michella couldn't take it any more.

"Wait. Just look at her. GLaDOS is sentient. That means your project was a success. Isn't that what your friends literally sacrificed their lives for?" Michella tried to reason with the others.

"But still, we want revenge!" Greg growled angrily.

"Henry, you worked on the GLaDOS project, right? Wasn't GLaDOS behaving like a human with thoughts and feelings the intended result?" Michella turned to another scientist.

"Y-yes, it was." Henry stuttered, caught off guard. Caroline looked up from her distraught daughter.

"What were you planning to do with GLaDOS if she hadn't tried to kill everyone every time she booted up?" Michella asked.

"We were going to run some tests on her, just to see what exactly the Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System was and how it worked." Henry explained.

"If that's all you wanted, you could have just asked." Caroline replied, looking Henry in the eyes, causing him to squirm uncomfortably.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Henry asked nervously.

"You let us all come out of here alive in one piece, and we'll go up to the main facility. I'll download myself back into my old body, and you do all the tests you wanted to do before. Do we have a deal?" Caroline saw her chance to let everyone survive without resorting to brute force. The scientists all looked at each other, weighing up all the pros and cons, before presenting their final decision to Michella.

"They said thanks for the offer, but no." Michella answered in a happy tone. Seeing how taken aback Caroline was and the angry faces of the others, she added, "Just kidding, it's a deal."


	12. Chapter 12

Greg freed Wheatley, and he, Caroline and Chell led everyone back up to where Cave and Doug were in the office. Chell was the first to enter, followed by Wheatley, then Caroline.

"Hey, glad you're safe, sorry we couldn't come, Mr. Johnson's in no state to be running round the place, and I thought I'd better stay here and look after... Gah." Doug trailed off as he saw some his old work friends stood behind Caroline. Henry did a double take.

"Doug? You're still alive?" Henry asked. Henry and Doug were good friends in the past.

"Just about, how did you survive?" Doug was happy to see his friend again.

"Cryogenic storage. You?" Henry replied.

"Skill, speed and back passages." Doug laughed.

"You'll have plenty of time to catch up with each other on the way back. Doug, Cave, since you weren't down there, we're going back up to the new part of the facility and they're testing out the GLaDOS project as if nothing ever happened." Caroline explained. Chell noted that Caroline's voice was sounding less and less like the cool, sarcastic, almost mocking tones of GLaDOS and more like the higher, happier almost peppy tones of Caroline.

* * *

The group began to make their way to the long staircase that led them down there. Since there were a lot more of them this time and the initial group felt a lot closer than before, the atmosphere wasn't tense like last time, instead the air was filled with friendly chatter as Doug caught up with his old friends, Caroline catted with her husband for the first time in years and Chell and Michella were having a laugh with each other.

"So you killed your own mother?" Michella asked, laughing.

"Well they technically got to her first," Chell indicated to the other scientists, "But yeah. In my defence, I didn't know she was my mother." Chell replied with a grin.

"Wow, I've heard of mother-daughter arguments, but this brings it to a whole new level." Michella joked. Chell laughed.

"Wow, that's the first time in a while that anyone's laughed at one of my jokes." Michella commented.

"Well it's the first time in a while that I've had a joke to laugh at." Chell replied, still grinning. The two girls made eye contact and soon the pair were laughing until their eyes were watering.

"It'd be nice if we could stay this happy forever." Chell offhandedly commented, wiping away a tear with a big grin on her face.

"Yeah. I don't even know what I'm going to do after we leave, I've not been to the surface for over twenty years, and I can hardly pull still being seventeen off as good anti ageing cream." Michella smiled as Chell giggled.

"You can always stay here." A voice came from behind them. Caroline was stood there, happy to see her daughter laughing.

"Stay here?" Michella asked.

"Yeah, it'd be no problem at all. I could make you a room like I build test chambers, just a bit smaller and less deadly, you could paint it whatever colour you want. How's that?" Caroline smiled as Michella's face lit up.

"Sure! That way Chell knows where to come to visit and will have no excuse for not coming back every now and then." Michella joked. Chell forced a small laugh for her friend, but that statement hit hard for her as she realized that she wasn't going to be in Aperture for much longer as she was only there for the mission, and that was coming to an end. After all, she _did_ have a life to get back to on the surface...

Everyone's chatter died down soon enough when they reached GLaDOS' main chamber. The room fell silent as they stared at the machine hanging from the middle of the room, lifeless, almost beautiful. The awed silence was shattered by the rhythmic click of Caroline's heels as she made her way over to the control panel.

"Alright, let's get this over with." She sighed as she input her data, and with a shrug and a grin to the three others she started the journey with, plus Cave and Michella, she pushed the button to begin the transfer.


	13. Chapter 13

As soon as Caroline pressed the button, her android body collapsed and fell to the floor and her main body spurred into life. Her optic lit up and she looked up at the others. The scientists all froze, as nothing good came out of the last time they saw her do that. Caroline merely laughed softly and spun around.

"I do love that android body, but I must admit, it's good to be back." She sighed.

"Ok, Ms Caroline, we've got everything ready, we're ready when you are." Greg gave the thumbs up.

"I guess I'm ready." Caroline replied. The scientists looked at each other and nodded. Caroline felt it the moment they began running the tests. She felt the electrical shudder run through the mainframe that meant that someone was remotely accessing the system. She didn't mind though, she was checking every inch of her facility for anything that could have changed whilst she was gone, which she took great pleasure in doing as she loved Aperture with all of her mechanical heart. She looked back into the room she was in and saw that Michella was having a small argument with one of the scientists and in frustration, she stormed over to Chell and said something to her before leading her out of the room. Chell had no objection to leaving for the time being, perhaps the scientist had requested that the two girls were to leave for their safety, Caroline thought. Sure, she'd had a _little_ slip up in the past, but she wasn't _that_ dangerous, really. The scientists shook it off and continued with their tests. Caroline could feel them working away at her system. It felt strange, but she felt that it was the least she could do after what she did back then. Caroline saw Cave sat by Doug, Wheatley had gone off exploring, and truly noticed just how weak and frail the guy looked.

"The moment we're done here, I'm going to make an android body for you so we can be a reasonably normal couple again." Caroline joked, thinking of how odd it must look, since Cave was a frail old man who looked deathly, whilst Caroline's body was designed to look like a healthy young woman in her 40s.

"Normal, said the one suspended from the ceiling." Cave remarked sarcastically, grinning at his wife, who would have grinned back if she had a mouth. Wheatley came back in and sat down next to Doug and Cave.

"It 's scary seeing you like this, Caroline." Wheatley laughed nervously. Caroline could see that Wheatley felt uncomfortable with the guilty memories surrounding her body, so to make him feel better, she pulled out the panel underneath him and raised him up, gently jerking the panel round like a kiddy ride until he relaxed and started laughing. Caroline slowly lowered the panel.

"Ok, Caroline! We're just going to reboot you to see if our little tweaks have worked." Greg shouted up to her. However, before he could press the reboot button, there was a small explosion over where they were standing. Not big enough to harm any of them, but just enough to knock them off their feet and fill the room with smoke. Coughing and spluttering, the scientists could see two silhouettes stood over them.


	14. Chapter 14

The smoke cleared to reveal the silhouettes as Chell and Michella. Chell had a basket of what appeared to be lemons hanging from her arm.

"Lemon grenades. Found them down there." Michella stated coldly.

"What the _hell_ did you do that for?" Greg yelled whilst coughing.

"You were trying to take over the facility. You were going to treat Caroline like a simple test, weren't you?" Michella asked angrily.

"Well that's because she technically _is_ one of our tests. Her sole purpose is to let us see if we can create a sentient artificial intelligence. _She's just a simple test._" Greg replied.

"A simple test? Could a simple test maintain a facility for so long? Could a simple test act on emotions to find out about her past? Could it?" Michella asked.

"My mother has run this facility brilliantly for years, I've watched her. You have no right to take it away from her." Chell shouted. Caroline saw trouble and transferred back into her android body, but everyone was so occupied with the shouting match that nobody noticed this. Greg opened his mouth to reply to Chell, but was distracted by the click, click, click of heels gradually getting louder as the wearer approached. Greg flipped round and saw Caroline walking towards him in the way he knew all too well from the few years between Cave's 'death' and GLaDOS' activation where Caroline was in charge. The was that said all too clearly said that she was mad. Really mad.

"This is _my_ facility. Not yours, and it never will be." Caroline stated angrily as the clicking of her heels got faster and faster until it abruptly stopped as she came to a halt with her face mere inches away from Greg's face, who swallowed.

"Get out." She whispered. Greg took a deep breath and got all the courage he could muster.

"Not a chance. We're going the finish what we started, and that means making you an obedient little girl." Greg replied mockingly. Caroline smirked and flipped round so she was facing Chell, Michella, Doug and Wheatley with her back to Greg and the other scientists.

"You do know I'm still connected, right?" Caroline asked with a dark tone to her voice. By the silence she assumed that they hadn't.

"Neurotoxin level at capacity in five minutes." An announcer's voice came over the loudspeaker. Caroline winked at her friends who caught on to the fact that she'd not actually turned it on. Doug leapt up and supported Cave as the two hurried out of the room, Chell, Michella and Wheatley following, Michella leaving the lemon grenades with Caroline, pretending to panic. They must have done a decent job, because all of the scientists panicked and sprinted over to the door. All but one. Greg had noticed that no neurotoxin had actually entered the room and stayed put. Caroline sealed the door closed and turned to face him.

"Well. You always were a smart one." Caroline commented in a mocking tone.

"Thanks." Greg growled.

"But how do you hold up in a fight?" Caroline asked.

"Better than you!" Greg exclaimed as he tackled Caroline to the floor with a shriek. She hadn't expected him to be so ready for a fight so quickly. She struggled out of his grip and slapped him. With a a red hand-shaped mark across his right cheek and quite angry, he pushed Caroline over. She slid across the floor, landing next to the basket of lemons that Michella and Chell had brought in. Grabbing one at random, she tossed it as hard as she could at Greg, and it exploded with slightly more force and less smoke than last time, knocking Greg across the room. He lay there for a moment, clearly dazed, then stood up, made his way over to Caroline, who'd just gotten back onto her feet and pinned her against the wall. She regretted not transferring her strength into the android body as she struggled against Greg, who showed no signs of relenting until Caroline gave up, which she wasn't planning on doing. She heard banging on glass, and saw Chell at the observation bay window. Upon seeing that she had Caroline's attention, Chell pointed at the lifeless supercomputer suspended in the middle of the room. It took Caroline a moment to realize. In the heat of the moment, she'd completely forgotten about the surviving connection. She located the panel she was pinned to, lifted her feet up and flung it forwards. Greg tumbled backwards and Caroline fell to the floor. Taking a deep breath, she lowered the claw that she'd used as a hand for these past years, picked Greg up by the collar of his labcoat and tossed him into the surface elevator, which rose up to the surface and tossed him out.

"Will all the other scientists we found down there please exit the facility." Caroline announced over the loudspeaker, opening the door. The scientists all entered the room and were promptly escorted into the elevator until the last one disappeared from view. Everyone else made their way to Caroline, who turned around and trully smiled as she saw those closest to her. Chell, Wheatley, Doug, Cave and Michella. They all hugged in silence for a few moments until Chell broke away from them.

"Well now the mission's done, I guess I'm going home." Chell said trying to sound perky, but couldn't keep the sadness from creeping through. "I'll miss you all."

Chell gave a sad smile before she turned and made her way to the surface elevator. The others watched as Chell rose up and up, until none of them could see her tear stained face any more. Chell was gone. Caroline slumped against a wall and stared at the floor, feeling empty. She hadn't thought about this. She knew that Chell lived on the surface now, she'd just chosen to forget. Cave came over and wrapped his arm around her.

"Would making a machine cheer you up?" Cave asked gently. Caroline nodded and got to work on Cave's android body.

* * *

Two hours later, Caroline had just transferred Cave into his new body.

"What do you think?" Cave, who looked about Caroline's age, asked.

"You look brilliant." Caroline replied, embracing her husband. Cave spun Caroline round, glad to be able to move freely without support. The group were laughing at Cave, who was dancing around, but they all froze and turned to look as they heard the surface elevator descend. Hardly daring to breathe they saw Chell step out and walk towards them.

"You know how I said I was going home? Well Aperture is more of a home to me than anywhere on the surface." Chell said, tearing up.

"Are you staying?" Caroline asked nervously.

"Of course." Chell smiled.


	15. Chapter 15

Two weeks had gone by since the scientists had been kicked out. Chell and Michella were undeniably the best of friends, they even had adjoining rooms. Wheatley didn't feel awkward around any of the others any more, he'd sit around with the girls and have a laugh with them, though he was the only one to actually tell Michella when she made a bad joke. Doug was permitted to paint murals around the place, but as he told Chell, he would have done anyway. Cave and Caroline spent a lot of time together and Caroline would often tell Cave what it was like running the facility from a supercomputer. Every now and then, Caroline would transfer into GLaDOS to check that everything was running smoothly, GLaDOS now being the name for the machine itself and not the AI in it. Caroline was sat in an observation deck, watching over the cooperative testing initiative.

"How's it going, Caroline?" Cave walked in and asked.

"We're still doing science, sir." Caroline replied with a warm smile.

End.

* * *

_**A/N**_

_Thank you everyone who read this story the whole way through! I loved writing this story, and I'm actually quite sad now that it's done. /3_

_Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed this story, especially dream1990, who sent me a PM!_

_Special thanks to Sapphire Oaks 69 for letting me use her OC, Michella, she was really fun to write, and I hope you like how she was portrayed!_

_As soon as I get an idea for another story, I'll get it written down, but for now, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my very first story!_


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